LDN - Sports

Highlights of Friday's Major League Baseball games

[September 23, 2017]

Sept 23 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Friday's Major League Baseball games:

Dodgers 4, Giants 2

Rookie Cody Bellinger hit his 39th homer as the Los Angeles Dodgers clinched their fifth straight NL West Division title with a 4-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants.

Bellinger hit a three-run homer in the third inning off Jeff Samardzija (9-15). He broke a tie with Wally Berger (1930) and Hall of Famer Frank Robinson (1956) for the homers hit a by National League.

Rich Hill (11-8) drove in the other run and allowed a run in six innings, for the Dodgers who clinched on former manager Tommy Lasorda's 90th birthday.

Pablo Sandoval homered in the ninth off Los Angeles closer Kenley Jansen.

Blue Jays 8, Yankees 1

Ryan Goins pulled off the hidden ball trick and hit a grand slam off Masahiro Tanaka as Toronto routed New York.

Goins pulled off the trick in the third inning to retire Todd Frazier, who was on second base. He then chased Tanaka (12-12) in the sixth inning with his second career grand slam.

Teoscar Hernandez and Russell Martin also homered for Toronto while Aaron Judge hit his league-leading 46th homer for the Yankees.

Tanaka was tagged for eight runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings as the Yankees fell four games behind the Boston Red Sox in the AL East.

Red Sox 5, Reds 4

Rookie Rafael Devers hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning as Boston edged Cincinnati.

Devers helped the Red Sox (89-64) move four games ahead of the New York Yankees in the AL East.

Cincinnati's Scooter Gennett hit a grand slam off Rick Porcello in the first inning. Gennett set a new team record with his fourth grand slam of the season.

Twins 7, Tigers 3

Max Kepler and Byron Buxton drove in two runs apiece as Minnesota handed Detroit its fifth straight loss.

Kepler hit his 19th homer and added an RBI single while Buxton had a two-run double as Minnesota moved to within 5 1/2 games of the New York Yankees for the first wild card spot.

Nicolas Castellanos hit his 25th homer for Detroit, which announced manager Brad Ausmus is not returning for the 2018 season.

Cardinals 4, Pirates 3

Jedd Gyorko produced the game-tying pinch hit single and Randal Grichuk scored the go-ahead run on a fielding error by shortstop Jordy Mercer as St Louis scored twice in the ninth to edge Pittsburgh.

Gyorko's hit helped the Cardinals (81-72) win their fourth straight and Mercer misplayed Dexter Fowler's grounder, allowing the tiebreaking run to score.

Mets 7, Nationals 6

Nori Aoki hit the tiebreaking RBI ground-rule double in the sixth inning as New York rallied to beat Washington.

Travis d'Arnaud homered twice as New York overcame a five-run deficit against the NL East champions.

Adam Lind hit a three-run homer for Washington.

Rays 7, Orioles 3

Wilson Ramos hit a grand slam off Ubaldo Jimenez as Tampa Bay beat Baltimore.

Evan Longoria also homered as Tampa Bay tied a team record with its 216th home run of the season.

Chris Davis homered for Baltimore.

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Braves 7, Phillies 2

Kurt Suzuki homered twice and drove in three runs as Atlanta rolled past Philadelphia.

Nick Markakis also drove in three runs for the Braves.

Rookie Nick Williams drove in both Philadelphia runs.

Cubs 5, Brewers 4 (10 innings)

Tommy LaStella drew the tiebreaking bases-loaded walk in the 10th inning as Chicago edged Milwaukee and inched closer to clinching the NL Central.

Ben Zobrist hit the game-tying single in the fifth for the Cubs, who beat Milwaukee in extra innings for the second straight night and lowered their magic number for clinching to four.

Astros 3, Angels 0

Justin Verlander allowed a hit in seven outstanding innings as Houston blanked Los Angeles.

Verlander (14-8) improved to 4-0 and owns an 0.64 ERA with the Astros.

Yuli Gurriel hit a three-run homer off Yusmeiro Petit after Garrett Richards held the Astros to one hit in six innings.

White Sox 7, Royals 6

Matt Davidson and Yoan Moncada homered as Chicago edged Kansas City by getting the final two outs on a dramatic double play in the ninth.

Davidson drove in three runs while Moancada hit a go-ahead two-run homer before right fielder Avisail Garcia threw out Whit Merrifield at the plate and Omar Navarez threw out Lorenzo Cain at second.

Mariners 3, Indians 1

Nelson Cruz hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning as Seattle handed Cleveland a rare loss.

Cruz's homer snapped a six-game losing streak for Seattle on a night when Erasmo Ramirez struck out 10 in eight innings.

Cleveland lost for the second time in 29 games and was unable to match the 1884 Providence Grays' record with 28 wins in 29 games.

Athletics 4, Rangers 1

Kendall Graveman pitched seven strong innings, Matt Olson hit a two-run homer and Oakland beat Texas.

Graveman and Olson helped Oakland win their fifth straight and pushed Texas (76-77) 3 1/2 games behind the Minnesota Twins for the second wild card spot.

Rockies 4, Padres 1

Jon Gray allowed a run in six solid innings as Colorado hit three solo homers and beat San Diego.

Nolan Arenado, Ian Desmond and Trevor Story homered for Colorado, which is 1 1/2 games ahead of St Louis for the second wild card spot.

Diamondbacks 13, Marlins 11

Chris Iannetta homered twice and drove in a career-high eight runs as Arizona outslugged Miami.

J.D. Martinez hit his 42nd homer, 26th with Arizona and 13th this month as the Diamondbacks (89-65) lowered their magic number for clinching a playoff spot to two. (Editing by John O'Brien)

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